Treefrog Pool Party Wall Print
Treefrog Pool Party Wall Print
Quick guide to selecting your wall print:
1. Choose the type - canvas, photo paper or fine art paper. Need more details? See the wall prints guide.
2. Select the size - the options in the drop-down menu refer to the print before a frame is added (including any border). All images are produced in their original uncropped format, so the actual image size may vary depending on your selection.
Canvas prints: the full image covers the entire front face. There is no border and the edges are white. The size selected from the drop-down size menu will be the actual image size.
Photo paper or fine art paper (framed or unframed) - actual image size within the border will be:
| Paper size: width x height | Actual image size: width x height |
| 40cm x 30cm | 28cm x 18.6cm |
| 50cm x 40cm | 40cm x 26.6cm |
| 70cm x 50cm | 54cm x 36cm |
| 100cm x 70cm | 80cm x 53.3cm |
3. Pick a frame (or choose not to). Frames are 2cm wide and stand 2.3cm from the wall.
4. Add to basket and you're done!
In stock
Description / Treefrog Pool Party Wall Print
Treefrog Pool Party © Brandon Güell 2022. Wildlife Photographer of the Year is owned by the Natural History Museum, London.
Behaviour: Amphibians and Reptiles, Highly Commended
Male gliding treefrogs hang from the egg-studded leaflets of palm fronds surrounding a large rainforest pool on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. At dawn, after torrential rain, thousands of females had arrived at the pool ready to lay their eggs. Awaiting them were males (small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and more than a centimetre smaller than the females), desperate to pass on their genes. Their aim was to grab a female and be in position to fertilize her eggs when she laid them or to oust a rival already grasping a female. But these males had so far failed in their quest.
To get his shots, Brandon waded into the murky water, chest deep, plagued by mosquitoes and hoping the two resident caimans would stick to snacking on falling frogs. Such spectacular mass-breeding events occur at only a few remote locations and only a few times a year and are hard to predict – Brandon had been up at 4am for days in anticipation of catching one.
Each female laid 200 or so eggs, creating huge egg masses, which overhung the pool. The eggs (typically 4 millimetres across) are green when freshly laid but soon reveal the developing embryos inside. Most embryos die from desiccation – an increase in dry spells resulting from climate change – predation or fungal infection; surviving tadpoles drop into the water below. With one partnerless male gazing directly at the camera and others searching across the frame, Brandon conveys the last moments of the frogs’ drive to reproduce.
About the photographer (2022)
Brandon is a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Research Fellow based at Boston University studying the reproductive and behavioural ecology of gliding treefrogs for his PhD dissertation. His interest in wildlife photography developed at the start of his PhD, initially from using it as a tool to study animal behaviour in the field. In the future, he hopes to use photography not only to communicate science but also to help inspire a passion for wildlife in others and to create advocates for conservation.